Tray-stacking machine



Oct. 30, I928.

L. B. EATON TRAY STACKING MACHINE Filed May 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 gvweutor Oct. 30, 1928. 1,689,332

L'. B. EATON TRAY STACKING MACHINE Pi1ed,llay .19225 sszm ts-sheet 2 @513 Quad W1 4 Oct. 30, 1928.

L. B. EATON TRAY STACKING MACHINE Filed May 9, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet... 3

Snoentoz Oct. 3v, F928.

-L. B. EATON TRAY 'STACKING MACHINE Filed May 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 wueuboz UEE. 30, 1928.

L. B. EATON TRAY STACKING MACHINE Filed May 9, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 66 o o o i 7.6"

-' Patented bct- 30, 1928.

' UNITED S ms em era-ros man a. lemon, or oamroanianssreiioa 'ro nmnnm rem: count, or am Immerse a ooaroaarron-or nm T mr-s'raoime'non'mn. F

wail

Application me my 9,, ma. semi 80. cause.

The. present invention relates to a stack- I I machine, ,and contem lates' conveyors an associa articles into a stack. Many articles, made I in machines which deliver them one at a time, need to be stacked, either for. 7 ment or for ,sonie of the later stepsin t e manufacturing process.

The present invention is desi ed to pro- 10 vide a device which can take t ese articles,

delivered one at a time, and deposit them-in a stack. The illustrative'embodiment herein shown and describedis a machine which I has been developed for stacking trays which .15 are adapted to carr lar e sheets of wall-.

lustrative embodiment of the invention stacks these loaded trays so'that they can be 2| convenientl moved into a drying-chamber.

Among t e objects of the present invention are the provision of a stacking mechanism which is adapted to receive articles one at a time and to depogi-t them on top so of one another in a stack he provision of an operating mechanism/so-that the movement of the parts is properly synchronized,

the rovision of devices for handlin the artic es without inverting them, an the provision of suitable devices for maintain- 1n the moving parts in dproper ali nment.

e accom anying rawings s ow, for u oses of 1 lustration a convenient emfiodiment of the present invention, which, as 40 above described,-1s particulafly d "i ned-for stacking trays carrying sheets of w l-board. It is of course obvious that the invention is capable of embodiment in diiferent structures. "45. In these drawings:

with the arts broken away;

Fig. 2 1s a plan view with the parts in section;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation taken in the direction of the arrow 8 of Fig. 2; Fig. '4 is an enlarged section taken on the line 4'4-of Fig. 3;-

devicesv or transferring.

Fig. lisa side elevation of the machine Fig. 5 is a side-elevation in the direction of the arrow 25 0f 4; I

1 Fig. 6 is a 'side elevation o the carriage used for carrying the'articles;

-Fig. 7 1s a viewtaken at right angles to the view of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged horizontal as...

taken through the line 88 of Figs. 1 and 7.

Similar reference-characters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The stackingmachine maybe operated in any convenient manner, but there is vhere shown an, air 0 linder 10 to which com-v pressed air may admitted thro h a i 11. This air cylinder has a pi s ton Po not shown), and a piston-rod 12 extends out through the top of. the air cylinder. This rod 12 is connected to a reciprocatory frame 13, here shown in the form of a rectangular frame made up of angle iron. The reciprocating frame 13 is rovided with rollers 14, which ride on ang e irons 15 supported from parallel posts 16 and 17 in the main framework of the machine.

weight, if desired. The frame 13is also provided near the top with curved angle The frame 13 Q may be provided with a suitable counter" hand side of the frame. They are spaced Y apart to provide a cam-track 20 from which certain of'the mechanism of the stacker ma be 0 erated inthe manner to be descri The ower'part of the frame 13 is provided with another pair of curved angle iron's 21 and 22, separated as before, to provide a cam-track'23.

The main frame of the machine has a horizontal cross-member 24 carried adjacent the curved members 21 and 22, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4. A shaft 25 is mounted in a suitable bearing block 26,'carried on the cross-member 24. The shaft 25 is provided with a driving ratchet 27 and a gear 28 fixed to it. An arm'29 is loosely mounted on the end of shaft 25, and the outer end ofthis arm is provided witha roller 30, adapted to travel in the cam-track 23, The arm isalso f I provided with a pawl 31 which is adapted'to cooperate with the teeth on the ratcheti m, vAs the frame 13-is recip i i of the ratchet turns the shaft 25,

' "gear 28, and this in turn drives the shaft 32 through a gear 33, preferably one-fourth the size of gear 28. In this manner, the

shaft 32 is given one complete revolution each time the frame 13 is raised. It is of course obvious that, during the lowering movement of the frame 13, the pawl 31 is brought back behind the preceding tooth on the ratchet.

The other end of the shaft 32 is mounted in bearings 34 and 35 and carried on hori- 'zontal members 36 and 37 of the machine frame. A sprocket gear "38 is keyed to the shaft 32 and this gear drives a sprocket chain or conveyor 39 having speed-apart In 40 for advancin the articles to be stacked. The articles ere shown are in the form of comparatively lon trays 41 the ends of which ride on rol ers 42. 'I hese tra s are provided with suitable supporting evices 43 for the articles to be stacked with the trays.

The follower 44 for the upper cam-track 20 is similar to the follower 30 for the 0th? cam-track heretofore described, and it o v rates, through a pawl 45, a ratchet wheel 46 fastened to a shaft 47. The shaft 47 .is advanced a quarter revolution by the recipromachine, as shown in Figs..2 and 3. v

This shaft 47 is provided with duplicate gears 48 and 49 which mesh with pimons 50 and 51 mounted on short shafts 52 and 53. These pinions are also preferably one-' quarter the size of the gears 48 anad 49. The shafts 52 and 53 are rovided with sprocket gears 54 and 55 for riving sprocket chains 56 and 57, which pass about sprocket wheels 58, 59 and 60, as shown in Fig. 1. The wheel 59 is directl under the wheel 58, and the wheel 60 is irectly under the wheel '54. In this way the chain 56- is provided with two vertical portions 61 and 62, the former of which travels vertically upward and the other travels vertically downward, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1.

The chains 56 and 57 are provided with pins 63 which support article carriers or carriages 64, shown in detail .in Figs. 6, 7, and 8. These carriages are suspended freely from the pins 63, and are provided with a comparatively long vertical member 65. and a lower cross-member 66. The cross member is provided with rollers 67 and 68 near the ends thereof, and these rollers cooperate with a system-of fixed guides, so as to keep the carriage in a predetermined path.

These guides may be'in the form ofvertical when the carriage A shownlat the right of Fig. 1) passes down to the position of the carria e B, it will be noted that the carria e hangsaelow the sprocket wheel 59. Auxi iary guides 70 and 71 maintain the carriage I B in the roper position and permit it to move hor zontally with the chain. ,The guides 70 and 71 are curved in a suitable manner to facilitate directin therollers. As the carriage B moves'to t e left to the position of the carriage C, it is obvious that the rollers 67 and 68 will again come into engagement with the vertical guides 69.69; hence the carriages G will be held in a predetermined path during theirupward travel. The upper art of the machine is provided with suitab e auxiliary guides 72 and 73, similar to the guides 70 and 71. It will be noted that these guides are spaced underneath the gears 54 and 58, and that they have suitable openings 74 to permit the pins 63 to pass.

The cross-members 66 of the carriages are provided with fingers 75 pivotally mounted on shafts 76. These fingers normally roject inwardly, as shown infull lines in 6, but they may be tilted, in a manner to be iles'cribed, to the position indicated in dotted mes.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

The reciprocation of the frame 13 intermittently advances both the conveyor chain 39 and the chains 56 and 57 carrying the carriages. The cams are so arranged that the conveyor systems advance alternately. The parts are so timed that the tray 41, loaded with material 100, as indicated in dotted lines, is brou ht in between the conveyor chains 56 and 57 and is brought to just the proper position to be carried away by a pair of carriages. After the conveyor 39 has stopped movement and the tray is in a position of rest, a pair of carriages opposite one another on the chains 56 and 57, is brought into position so that its fingers 75 may engage the lower edge of the tray 41. a The tray is then lifted from the conveyor 39 and is carried up by the advancing chains 56 and 57. It is then carriedhorizontally across to the position indicated-at D in Figs.

1 and 3,.whereupon it is lowered in an obvious manner. The movement of the carriages is, of course, in the present embodiment of the machine, intermittent. Succes- Inn assassin.

A truck 101 is mounted'on rails 102 tion to receive the trays as they are lowered by the chains 56 and 57 /The rst tray that is brought around the stacking machine rests upon thetop ogthe'truck 101 and the emptied carriages 64 pass down as above do scribed. The next loaded tray that comesalong is deposited on top of the first one, as):

' fingers 75' the previously deposited tray and" are tllted. to the dotted line shown in Fig.

0 stacked articles. It is of course obvious that any numben of articles can be stacked" indicated in Fig. 3. The movable engage iii thereby permitting the carriages to within the limits of the size of the machine;

- and when a suitable load has been deposited on the truck, the machine may be stopped and another empty truck substituted. As the conveyor 39 is actuated from the same source of power that actuates the conveyors 56 and 57, itis of course obvious that the parts may at all times be properly synchronized, and that all parts maybe stopped at the same time to permit removing the loaded truck.

each having a follower for the corresponding cam, each gear train being connected to a conveyor.

2. for operating the conveyors of a staclnngjmachine comprising, a movable two cams on the frame, gear trains each having a follower for the corresponding cams,

each gear train being connected to aconve or througha one-way drive','the cams and f0 owers bemg'so interrelated that the con- :gveyors are advanced intermittently and in. iralternationt '18, A. machine forjstacking articles coman elevator including pairs of paral eL-spaced verticallydisposed chains, a su pl y oonveylor adapted to bring the artic es tween e elevator chains, the elevator chains havin'g devices for taking the articles of! the supply conveyor and supporting them while the elevator transports the loa d devices to an article receiving device interosed between the elevator chains, and means or alternately actuating said. supply conveyor and said elevator comprisin a verti-v cally reciprocating frame, cam trac s in said frame, and cam followers engaging said cam tracks and associated respectively with said supplly conve or and said elevator.

4. n a stac ing machine comprisin a plurality of conveyors adapted for a ternate o eration,'means for moving said conveyors a. ternately comprising a vertically disposed reciprocating frame, cam tracks carried by said frame, and cam followers associated respectively with said conveyors engagingin said cam tracks.

LESLIE B; EATON.

frame, an cylinder for moving the frame, shown in Fig. 3, and this truck is in a posi'-' 

